Newsletter

Setnetters, drifters open in Kasilof on Sunday

A Saturday afternoon emergency order has opened the Kasilof section of the Upper Subdistrict of the Cook Inlet from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday to harvest the excess of sockeye salmon.

According to the emergency order:

Drift and set gillnetting will be open in the Kasilof Section — not the expanded section — from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m.

As of 3 p.m. Saturday 138,000 sockeye had passed through the sonar on the Kasilof river — the largest estimated passage through this date on the river, according to the release.

Red salmon jumping on area beaches show the fish to be present throughout the entire Kasilof section, according to the release.

Despite an early run king salmon closure on the Kenai River due to low numbers of fish, the release details genetic stock identification data collected during Thursday's Kasilof setnet opening which showed the Kenai River chinook salmon stocks to be a low proportion of the overall commercial harvest.

"Therefore fishing 8 hours in the Kasilof Section set gillnet fishery to slow the rate of escapement of Kasilof River sockeye salmon is warranted at this time," according to the release.